The present invention relates generally to the determination of the chemical composition of unknown chemical compounds. More particularly, the present invention relates to apparatus for determining the chemical composition of environmental and non-environmental substances, such as hazardous and toxic chemicals, air and water contaminants.
In the area of environmental testing of the composition of the air, water, hazardous chemicals and other environmental as well as non-environmental samples, including the detection of drugs and explosives, it is often desirable and much of the time necessary to conduct the tests of such materials at the source or location of the materials. Since such materials are oftentimes found outside of controlled environments which are provided with sources of power, and since it is often important, for example, in the case of drugs and explosives, to quickly ascertain the presence of such substances in a rapid manner in the absence of readily available power sources, the need has arisen in the art for a compact, powerful and yet very sensitive instrument for testing as well as monitoring the chemical composition of such materials.
With many presently available systems, it takes days and often weeks to transport the samples to a central laboratory and obtain the results from the sophisticated routines necessary to analyze the chemical composition of certain substances. The present invention, on the other hand, both senses and analyzes such substances in minutes right on the site where the substance is found. In addition to providing advanced field testing and analysis, the present invention, which includes a novel gas chromatograph and mass spectrometer combination, provides a comprehensive real-time monitoring and on-site assessment capability for scientists, engineers, compliance specialists and others with environmental protection and public safety responsibilities.
The present system, then, combines in one portable compact package a fully integrated and totally self-contained system which couples a temperature programmed gas chromatograph with a high performance miniaturized mass spectrometer and on-board computer. The computer includes an operating system, as well as a mass spectra library and analysis software.